West Malling records shoplifting at 5.3 times the rate of a typical town its size

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

Against the typical town its size, West Malling runs highest on shoplifting (9.6 per 1,000 against 1.8), vehicle crime (4.7 per 1,000 against 2) and other theft (5.4 per 1,000 against 3.2).

“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.

September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.

0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.

West Malling’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.

Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.

Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near West Malling, and others in Kent.

And about 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 15 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).

Rolling twelve-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +6% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -18% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +60% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +25% (towns its size +0%).

No suspect was identified for 69% of West Malling’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (78% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 3% of violent and 3% of household crimes reached court.

The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 195 crimes.

Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.

Collisions police recorded inside West Malling’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

West Malling records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Snodland records more. Larkfield, 1.5 miles away, records 25.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against West Malling’s 28.5.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.